The record breaking WPT Prime Cambodia may be in the history books but the confetti continues to fly with winners yet to be celebrated and moments to relive. Running from August 11 to 23 at NagaWorld Phnom Penh, the final day witnessed more Philippine players lift trophies. Mike Takayama emerged as the first player to capture two events, Main Event champion David Erquiaga was hailed WPT Player of the Festival, and India walked away with a whopping 8 event trophies. We’ve got those stories, festival highlights, and final side events winners for you.
Festival review
Grand prize pool: US$ 2,951,395 (24 events)
Entries: 4,309
Main Event champion: David Erquiaga
Player of the Festival: David Erquiaga
Multi-winner: Mike Takayama – 10K SHR Single Day Challenge & $HR 3K
Biggest earner: Mike Takayama – US$ 200,100
Most final tables: Kunal Patni (4) Jasven Saigal (4)
Trophies by flag: India (8), Philippines (3), Malaysia (3), Vietnam (2), Russia (1), Korea (1), South Africa (1), United Kingdom (1), Indonesia (1), Netherlands (1), USA (1), Taiwan (1)
Philippines’ David Erquiaga hailed WPT Player of the Festival
Philippines’ David Erquiaga was supposed to fly home after winning the Main Event but postponed it in an attempt to secure his lead in the WPT Player of the Festival race. With three events yet to complete on closing day, Erquiaga wasn’t safe with only 100 points ahead of Kunal Patni. Five others down the rung were also in contention, Trong Hieu Ngo, Mike Takayama, Martijn Gerrits, Christopher Mateo, and WPT Prime Vietnam Player of the Festival winner Duy Ho. WPT Live Events Specialist, Danny McDonagh, provided the blow-by-blow in his Facebook page:
The Player of the Festival for WPT Prime Cambodia went literally right down to the wire! I was fortunate to have a front seat to watch the action. Coming into the final three events the top 7 were live.
Christopher Mateo was actually on 375 points and a 2nd in the SuperStack Classic moved him up to 675 points. He declined to play the Turbo Closer given his flight that night and Mike Takayama also passed on the last two events for the same reason.
However, the other 5 in the top 7 all played Event 23, the $300 6 Max. Both Kunal and Martijn Gerrits busted and jumped into the Turbo Closer but both ultimately fell short in that event also.
That left the start of day leader David Erquiaga with 900 points, Trong Hieu Ngo on 825 points and Duy Ho on 650 points to fight for the trophy and 5K Main Tour entry in the 6 Max. The winner would receive 300 points, going down to 50 points for 9th.
All three were live with 11 remaining and David was seriously short stacked down to 53k. And then in the matter of three hands this happened.
David went all in a slight underdog and doubled up. Next hand on same table Duy Ho was all in with Aces against a shove of 6’s for a 500k plus pot only to see a 6 fall on the flop and eliminate him in 11th.
And on the other table just after Duy busted Hieu Ngo was all in and busted in 10th to guarantee David the POF win.
Erquiaga earned 800 points for his Main Event victory and 150 points for 6th place at the $5.3K Super High Roller for a combined 950 points. With the most points accrued, he won the WPT Passport worth $5,000 to any WPT Main Tour of choice.
Record breaking Main Event
The WPT Prime Cambodia broke bounds with a record breaking 1,050 Main Event entries for a prize pool of US$ 1,018,500. This was the largest turnout and pot for an open event by the brand in Asia.
Emerging triumphant was Philippine pro David Erquiaga for his first ever major title. In addition to a career high payout of US$ 137,008, Erquiaga won a seat worth US$ 10,400 to the WPT World Championship $15M guaranteed. The event takes place in December at the Wynn Las Vegas.
David Erquiaga clinches the record breaking WPT Prime Cambodia Main Event
Philippines’ Mike Takayama captures second high roller title, closes as biggest earner
Highly decorated Filipino pro Mike Takayama impressed at the festival, becoming the only player to bag two events. Takayama‘s first win was at the 10K Super High Roller Single Day Challenge for a substantial US$ 94,100 payout, then on penultimate day, he outlasted the 140 entry field of the High Roller 3K event for a larger US$ 106,000 paycheck. With a combined US$ 200,100 in winnings, he was also the festival’s biggest earner.
The HR 3K event was a two-day affair, and being that it was the last high roller event scheduled, it drew a 140 entry field for a bulky US$ 380,240 prize pool. Among the players in attendance were Tzai Wei Phua, Cao Ngoc Anh, GACKT, James Mendoza, Punnat Punsri to mention a few. Day 1 closed with Philippines’ Alfie Poetra leading the hunt while Takayama was ranked 8th. Also in the top 10 lineup were WSOP champion Leo Soma, France’s Clement Van Driessche, Russia’s Vladimir Mefodichev, and Filipino Vamerdino Magsakay.
At seven-handed, Takayama amassed a monstrous stack after delivering a double elimination with a nutty nut flush 
against Magsakay‘s 
and Mefodichev’s 
on a board 
. From there he cruised to heads up backed by a massive lead against Dutch pro Martijn Gerrits. Both players were seeking their second festival title with Gerrits having won the Short Deck High Roller. Despite Takayama‘s big lead, it wasn’t an easy close. Gerrits battled to steal the lead. Once Takayama grabbed it back, he nailed it shut with pocket Tens over King-Five.
Buy in: US$ 3,000
Entries: 140
Prize pool: US$ 380,240
ITM: 18 places
1st
Mike Takayama
Philippines
$106,000
2nd
Martijn Gerrits
Netherlands
$66,900
3rd
Sangbeom Lim
Korea
$39,700
4th
Clement Van Driessche
France
$23,800
5th
Phachara Wongwichit
Thailand
$18,500
6th
Vladimir Mefodichev
Russia
$15,590
7th
Vamerdino Magsakay
Philippines
$13,400
8th
Somashek Kurkhepally
India
$12,000
9th
Koen Breed
Netherlands
$10,600
10th
Punnat Punsri
Thailand
$9,250
11th
Alfie Poetra
Philippines
$9,250
12th
Abhinav Iyer
India
$9,250
13th
Mei San Ang
Singapore
$8,000
14th
Fuwei Chen
China
$8,000
15th
Gavin Best
Australia
$8,000
16th
Zarvan Tumboli
India
$8,000
17th
Kyungtae Lee
Korea
$7,000
18th
Viet Hoang Tran
Vietnam
$7,000
Kunal Patni and Jasven Saigal reach four final tables
While several players reached multiple final tables, Indian players Kunal Patni and Jasven Saigal topped the counts with four each. Both players also won one event. Here’s a look at their achievements:
Kunal Patni
3rd place – Event 3: Deepstack NLH Freezeout
1st place – Event 5: Deepstack NLH
5th place – Event 7: Mystery Bounty
6th place – Main Event
Jasven Saigal
6th place – Event 7: Mystery Bounty
7th place – Event 11: Bounty Event $250 Bounty
8th place – Event 16: Pot Limit Omaha
1st place – Event 23: SuperStack 6-Max Finale
WPT World Championship package winner: DINH QUOC NGUYEN
Nguyen Quoc Dinh
Vietnam’s Dinh Quoc Nguyen won a package worth US$ 12,500 to the WPT World Championship after outlasting seven other runners at the WPT WC Satellite.
India lifts eight trophies
Throughout the 13-day festival, players from all over the globe were in participation. Coming in packs were players from Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Australia, South Africa, France, and India who lifted 8 trophies, the most by any nation.
Winners: Ashish Munot (NagaWorld SuperStack), Kunal Patni (Deepstack NLH), Akshay Kapoor (NLH Single Day), Zarvan Tumboli (Pot Limit Omaha), Shardul Parthasarathi (SHR), Somashekar Kurkhepally (Bounty Event), Jasven Saigal (SuperStack 6-Max Finale), and Gurpal Singh (Closer Turbo).
Final side event winners
Event 18: NLH Freezeout – DUY MANH HO – US$ 6,460
Duy Manh Ho
Buy in: US$ 300
Entries: 119
Prize pool: US$ 31,166
ITM: 15 places
1st
Duy Manh Ho
USA
$6,460*
2nd
Anton Widjaya
Indonesia
$5,711*
3rd
Chi Chung Ho
Hong Kong
$6,110*
4th
Abbouchi Mohamad
Lebanon
$2,182
5th
Suk Sun Noh
Korea
$1,652
6th
Po Chun Wen
Taiwan
$1,371
7th
Jin Xiong Lee
Singapore
$1,184
8th
Tomas Dedinas
USA
$1,044
9th
Raju Jaruplavath
India
$919
10th
Bruce Richard Kelly
Australia
$810
11th
Kittipat Poochaneeyangkoon
Thailand
$810
12th
Robert Campbell
Australia
$810
13th
Lindsay Charles Jefferson
Australia
$701
14th
Kamran Suriya
Pakistan
$701
15th
Harsh Bubna
India
$701
*Three-way deal
Event 19: NLH Turbo Freezeout – VICTOR CHONG – US$ 8,000
Victor Chong
Buy in: US$ 300
Entries: 115
Prize pool: US$ 30,119
ITM: 15 places
1st
Victor Chong
Malaysia
$8,000*
2nd
Duy Manh Ho
USA
$6,382*
3rd
Gunisha Sinha
India
$3,283
4th
Samuel Adams
New Zealand
$2,108
5th
Ari Marlon Kumpumaki
Finland
$1,596
6th
Raju Jaruplavath
India
$1,325
7th
Prommin Talordpong
Thailand
$1,145
8th
Tanik Kongjaroentin
Thailand
$1,009
9th
Chung Yu Ho
Taiwan
$888
10th
Chang Yu Lee
Taiwan
$783
11th
Omair Javed
Pakistan
$783
12th
Laksh Pal Singh
India
$783
13th
Kanchan Sharma
India
$678
14th
Muhammed Ali Chandna
Pakistan
$678
15th
Eunju Jung
Korea
$678
*Heads up deal
Event 20: Bounty Event $150 Bounty – VAN TRUNG NGUYEN – US$ 12,100
Van Trung Nguyen
Buy in: US$ 500
Entries: 194
Prize pool: US$ 84,681
Bounty pool: US$ 29,100
ITM: 25 places
1st
Van Trung Nguyen
Vietnam
$12,100*
2nd
Duc Kien Tran
Vietnam
$11,264*
3rd
Trent Fechter
USA
$5,697
4th
Klas Stafan Borjesson
$3,465
5th
Hua Wei Lin
Taiwan
$2,676
6th
Junxiang Collin Lim
Singapore
$2,218
7th
Constantine Paparestis
Ireland
$1,890
8th
Mohamad Bin Noording
Singapore
$1,634
9th
Ari Marlon Kumpumaki
Finland
$1,383
10th
Kyoungwon Park
Korea
$1,203
11th
Hiroki Karatsu
Japan
$1,203
12th
Hiroki Morishita
Japan
$1,203
13th
Ankit Wadhawan
India
$1,028
14th
Van Canh Nguyen
Vietnam
$1,028
15th
Phuong Ngoc Nguyen
Vietnam
$1,028
16th
Ying Chang Chen
Taiwan
$853
17th
Chyuan Seng Wee
Malaysia
$853
18th
Jain Bhuvan
Singapore
$853
19th
Kenichi Seto
Japan
$681
20th
Jun Hao Wu
Singapore
$681
21st
Guoxi Lian
Singapore
$681
22nd
Sunho Yoo
Korea
$514
23rd
Thai Bao Vu
Vietnam
$514
24th
Chun Hsiang Yang
Taiwan
$514
25th
Pratibh Saluja
India
$417
*Heads up deal
Event 22: SuperStack Classic Freezeout – CHAO TING CHENG – US$ 14,271
Buy in: US$ 400
Entries: 148
Prize pool: US$ 51,682
ITM: 19 places
1st
Chao Ting Cheng
Taiwan
$14,271
2nd
Christopher Mateo
Philippines
$9,044
3rd
Ngoc Quoc Bao Pham
Vietnam
$5,323
4th
Sinsung Yoon
Korea
$3,232
5th
Anton Widjaya
Indonesia
$2,507
6th
Kohei Wada
Japan
$2,070
7th
Jun Hao Wu
Singapore
$1,809
8th
Dzmitry Halubitski
Belarus
$1,615
9th
David Peter Rodwell
Australia
$1,427
10th
Ben Abrahams
Thailand
$1,240
11th
Minjae Bae
Korea
$1,240
12th
Yoke Wei Woon
Malaysia
$1,240
13th
Samuel Adams
New Zealand
$1,059
14th
Jianguo Zhou
China
$1,059
15th
Shardul Parthasarathi
India
$1,059
16th
Rindra Norodom
$904
17th
Ngoc Quoc Luat Tran
Vietnam
$904
18th
Julius Umbrazuinas
Lithuania
$904
19th
Alfonso Baja
Philippines
$775
Event 23: SuperStack 6-Max Finale – JASVEN SAIGAL – US$ 6,255
Jasven Saigal
Buy in: US$ 300
Entries: 90
Prize pool: US$ 23,571
ITM: 12 places
1st
Jasven Saigal
India
$6,255*
2nd
Rindra Norodom
$5,700*
3rd
Sylvain Chhang
$2,829
4th
Amit Kaushik
India
$1,827
5th
Laksh Pal Singh
India
$1,414
6th
Kun Kiet Wong
Malaysia
$1,120
7th
Wongyu Kang
Korea
$943
8th
Huaxin Wang
China
$825
9th
David Jansen Erquiaga
Philippines
$748
10th
Duy Manh Ho
USA
$684
11th
Trong Hieu Ngo
Vietnam
$636
12th
Sombath Sok
$590
*Heads up deal
Event 24: Closer Turbo – GURPAL SINGH NANDA – US$ 11,713
Gurpal Singh Nanda
Buy in: US$ 550
Entries: 69
Prize pool: US$ 33,465
ITM: 9 places
1st
Gurpal Singh Nanda
India
$6,255
2nd
Ankit Wadhawan
India
$5,700
3rd
Chung Yi Ho
Taiwan
$2,829
4th
Jeffry Kurniawan
Indonesia
$1,827
5th
Ashish Munot
India
$1,414
6th
Dhanesh Chainani
Singapore
$1,120
7th
Sumit Sapra
India
$943
8th
Kim Lay Ly
Canada
$825
9th
Kevin Sabbe
Australia
$748
Up next is WPT Australia
For the first time, the World Poker Tour will bring its main tour to Australia with games taking place from September 15 to 27 at The Star Gold Coast. The festival features a full schedule of 13 events with buy ins from A$ 440 to A$ 10,000. The highlight is the A$ 5,400 Main Event which runs from September 23 to 27. Two starting days are available to join the action. With the past WPT festivals drawing massive crowds, players can expect this event to surpass all others. Head to the WPT website for all the info.
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